Once Upon a Time
by xipeek
Summary: HPCSI crossover. Little Christmas oneshot dedicated to fairytaleaddict. Merry Christmas to you all


**N/A: **I wrote this one-shot for Christmas coz I was in the mood and it was on a list. Merry Christmas to you Isabella and to everybody else. I hope there're not too many mistakes since english is not my first language and it hasn't been beta-ed. EnjOy )

_

* * *

_

_Once upon a time_

Once upon a time, as the 25th of December was slowly approaching, two very different women had the same idea. Christmas presents. There were Santa Claus everywhere, mistletoe above every doorway and fake snow stuck on every window.

To someone's peculiar's opinion, and especially to her trained eyes, all that staging seemed too wrong, almost freaky. The beautiful blonde felt a little bitter at that thought, realizing that all the dazzler of Christmas had vanished since she was a CSI. The attention she was used to pay at details was spoiling the simple joy of Christmas mood. A funny notebook with veggies on the cover suddenly attracted her ice-blue eyes on the bookshop's window. A grin made its way to her lips as she pushed the door to enter.

But the strawberry blonde hit someone who was making her way out with difficulty and took a step back:

'Ow I'm sorry!' She said.

'There's no problem, it's overcrowded in there', a young woman with some pink locks of hair answered. 'Good Luck', she added with a gentle smile.

Catherine nodded in acknowledgment and smiled back, cheered up by that kindness. The shop was launched into Xmas mood as much as the streets were, if not more. The room was pretty narrow and invaded by fairy lights, sprites statues and the Holy Night's voice was desperatly trying to fight its way through the surrounding hubbub. On the right side, loads of wood shelves were weighted down under tones of pens, notebooks and letter papers. The woman saw what she was looking for: a green and orange notebook covered with veggies. A tiny smiley was winking at her at the bottom right corner. Her choice was made. She grabbed it and grinned at the thought of a certain brunette meticulously drawing her crime scene or random notes on it.

Meanwhile another young woman was trying to keep her hair dark pink and not bright red as it was slowly turning into. An explosion of red roses had bloomed under her cheeks when she had passed-by the cute blonde earlier and she still felt under her charm. She however managed to put the image of the woman in a corner of her mind and focused on her presents' list. Her superior had told her she could use some disguise to execute all her tasks because she was really good at it...In fact Nymphadora's list wasn't at all like any of those muggles' lists. Actually it was way funnier than buying common presents and put them under the Christmas tree.

She took a look at it and concentrated on her first target. Caucasian female. Well, she obviously couldn't find her by any chance in the street, she'd need some help. Looking around to be sure not to be seen, Tonks thrust her hand deep into her pocket till her fingers found her wand. She whispered an incantation and a cloud of smoke slowly came out of her wand. It was a plan with a red arrow to indicate the way. A tiny purple point represented her and her target was in red. "Fine" she said, waving her hand to make the smoke disappear.

She wondered what her friends' list looked like this year. It was her first 'Play Santa' year. At the very beginning, she thought it was a joke because she had never heard of it. But they had explained her the seriousness of the project and why she didn't need to know until she was part of it. And she found it wonderful. She had nothing to buy, nothing to offer if joy to people. Their special mission was to put a smile on every lip for Christmas. "We are the Smiling Army," she thought with an inner smile. And though it wasn't Xmas yet, they all knew that it could take some time...

When Catherine bumped into someone a second time, she couldn't help but swear. Until she saw the person she just ran into. Someone with dark red hair. She felt her cheeks turning red as her blue ice eyes slowly drifted to hazel's ones.

"Sorry...again" She said.

Strangely, the woman she'd passed-by in the store didn't seem as surprised as the blonde was.

"No problem...Actually I was er...kinda looking for you."

The inquisitive look on the strawberry blonde's face told Tonks she was waiting for some explaination. The young woman was good at disguise but not improvisation. However she managed to invent a likely story as soon as possible.

"I think you forgot something in the bookshop..."

"But you were going out, and I was going in and..."

Unwilling to alarm her, Tonks reluctantly took her wand and muttered some incantation so that she won't ask questions anymore. Then she told her what they were going to do.

"I'm the one asking questions okay? What would you like to do right now? And I want an honest answer.

"Dancing" Catherine answered like she was high.

"Really? Where?" asked a surprised red-haired.

"Whatever..."

"Well, fine."

Tonks took her hand and headed towards a narrow street. There she helped the blonde to climb a scale fixed upon a building.

They both arrived on the roof where there was nothing if a soft radiance from the street's lights.

"So that's it? You want to dance?" Tonks asked once again.

"Yes. It'd be nice".

Catherine's voice sounded still distant but determined.

And the smile that appeared on her face definitely convinced the young woman that dancing was all Catherine wanted to do.

Nymphadora was about to take the blonde's other hand but she was taken aback by both of them sliding around her waist. Her own hands rose to Catherine's neck and pulled her a little closer. The warmth of her body was strangely good and she surprised herself closing her eyes to feel the swing. When Tonks opened them again, she saw snowflakes all around them. Catherine rose up her head and the only thing that Tonks would ever remember was not the dance, or the roof. It was the magic smile that was enlightening the blonde's expression at that very moment. The Christmas joy was back.

_The end_


End file.
